"Let's go to southwest New Mexico," said Bruce about a year ago when we were figuring out this winter's camping plans. OK! I pulled out the map and saw, well, honestly, a vast landscape of not all that much.
Expectations. They'll mess you up every time.
Bruce, however, had heard of City of Rocks State Park in between Silver City and Deming, and wanted to build a trip that included setting up our camper amongst the house-sized boulders in that small, remote park. We examined the map closely for what else we may want to check out. There was White Sands National Park with no campground on site but another state park nearby, Oliver Lee Memorial. Sounds good. Let's add Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge too, because by November, the thousands of sandhill cranes and snow geese that attract wildlife watchers will have arrived and be putting on quite the display. Hey, guess what, the biologist who first hired me at Arizona Game & Fish Department, Vanessa, and her husband John, are now retired and are volunteering at "the Bosque" all this winter, let's meet up!
With three other couples who form a pack of camper buddies (Jeannette and Allen, Denise and Guy, and Vicki and Jeff) and with a request by one to include a Harvest Host stay at Tularosa Vineyards (no one argued against that idea), we had a week-long trip planned to an area none of us had really explored (let alone heard much about).
A tiny part of the VLA (Very Large Array), perhaps one of the most well-known landmarks in southwest New Mexico. A drive-by.
Making reservations months in advance, we had plenty of time to Google the heck out of these sites. The more we researched, the more we were intrigued. History, archeology, wildlife viewing, scenic vistas, hiking, and more awaited us. By the time we left, we had a number of interesting things on our mind's "Bingo" card that we wanted to check off. However, it was the unexpected wonders that we didn't foresee that really brought home how exhilarating it is to be open to whatever the journey may drop into your lap. Expectations exceeded along with surprises along the way; that's the best of both worlds, right? Let's take a look:
City of Rocks State Park
Approaching City of Rocks. Yup. There be rocks!
Expectations: A really cool campsite nestled among enormous boulders. A bit of hiking.
Cool campsite named Perseus, check!
Not on our Bingo card: The clearest skies full of stars, using our spotting scope to see our moon, Saturn's rings, and Jupiter's moons. Discovering the SkyView app that not only points out the constellations but illustrates in glorious artwork the designs of these star patterns. A park theme revolving around planets, stars, constellations, and galaxies, including the Planet Trail, where interpretive signs are placed in proportionate distance as our own planets from the Sun. Oh, and snuggling a Corgi puppy.
How cool is this SkyView app???
Excuse me, camper-I've-never-met, can I play with your Corgi puppy?
Oliver Lee Memorial State Park
Expectations: A jumping-off spot to visit nearby White Sands National Park. Historical interpretation of the park's namesake. A desert hike up Dog Canyon.
Not on our Bingo card: The beautiful rugged face of the Sacramento Mountains in both sunset and sunrise glow. The restored Lee ranch house, meticulously researched and explained in a fascinating tour, with a surprisingly stunning hand-embroidered quilt by Lee's wife Winnie from 1899 on the bed. Wandering up past the end of a short streamside trail, boulder-hopping and feeling like Dorothy entering Oz. The camaraderie of a Dutch-oven breakfast gathering. Finding out that Lee's reclusive neighbor and expert woodworker "Frenchie" may have been the mystery carpenter behind the miraculous spiral staircase at the Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe. What??? And, more star-gazing through cell phone apps.
White Sands National Park
Expectations: Mostly a look-see of these extraordinary white gypsum dunes, joining a ranger-led sunset hike.
Our shadows made a piano keyboard on the white sand!
Not on our Bingo card: The softness of gypsum sand as it sifts like flour through your fingers and toes. How much it looks like a winter scene, with the juxtaposition of people in t-shirts sledding down hills made of sand. The fast-moving dunes covering a tall cottonwood tree so that just the top of the tree is visible. Knitting with Denise and Jeannette on a mound of white sand that looked like snow.
A top of a cottonwood tree. Dunes move 14 feet per year from wind. This sand will move on and uncover the tree. Until another dune comes along!
The above tree will look like this in a few years. Hard to put down a solid root system!
Playing with yarn.
Three Rivers Petroglyph Site
Expectations: In between Oliver Lee state park and our next stop of Socorro, we read about its concentration of petroglyphs and figured that's what we'd see.
Not on our Bingo Card: Almost every rock on this small hill was used by the Jornado Mogollon people to express their art in the form of graphic designs, circles, faces, animals and more. The ability to explore at will and discover nooks and crannies loaded with this art. The visitor center hostess, who showed Denise, Jeannette, and I a new crochet stitch.
Socorro and Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge
Expectations: A happy reunion with Vanessa and John. Thousands of sandhill cranes and snow geese among other birds. A decent but not terribly attractive campsite near the town of Socorro, the value of which is that it was not a treeless gravel lot like most RV parks in the area.
Not on our Bingo card: The joy of re-connecting with an old friend like no time had passed, and being inspired by their lifestyle of living minimally while volunteering at parks for months at a time; their plan is to live park-to-park for the next 15 years. Being serenaded by the ancient clacking calls of sandhill cranes during a beautiful sunset along the Rio Grande. A bobcat calmly sitting on a path watching us. A walking tour of historic Socorro buildings that led us to meet FCKN Dave who lives in a historic church, and owns an adjacent house where he plans to put his hot tub. Some great Mexican food at Sophia's. The nicer-than-expected ambiance of Escondida Lake Park with its pond and trees.
FCKN Dave.
The House of FCKN Dave.
Sophia's Mexican Restaurant. If you're in Socorro, go.
Escondida Lake Park. Not bad!!!
Our last night. Hard to separate after this trip, for sure.
Never underestimate the power of experiencing stuff not on your life's Bingo card. Seek it out and treasure every morsel!
Winery (Tularosa Vineyards)
And another winery (Lescombes Vineyards). We like wine.
Escondida Lake!
FCKN Dave's wall art. Inspired by the global PAN-demic....you got it!
